Sonar 9 Wish List

Folks, it is too late to ask for new features for Sonar 8. Cakewalk is now hopefully working on the last tweaks and bug fixing.
Let them do their job and get excited about getting Sonar 8.

Wilko

Would be really nice if some of the dialog boxes that are currently modal could be non-modal (that is, you could click outside of them while they are open.) For example....

I open the bounce to tracks dialog and I get everything set the way I want it. Then I notice that the trim on the track I'm bouncing isn't at zero... or I forgot to bypass the fx bin... which for my current purposes is how I need it to be. So I have to close the dialog, reset the trim, reopen the dialog, and then reset it all over again.

Would be so much nicer if I could click outside the dialog, adjustment the track as needed, and then just carry on.

Modal dialog boxes are not nearly as necessary as they are prevalent. They're sometimes a real pain.

Sonar's dialog boxes, as a whole, really need to be reviewed and made more workflow-friendly, made less click-intensive, and generally brought into the 21st century. (And made larger! Horithontal thcrolling thucks.)

I know.. it's just a minor thing. But these things add up.

The audio snap feature needs a way to save user presets. This is mainly for using Audio Snap for drum replacement. That way, once you have established a midi note for a particular drum sample you would be able to save it for later use such as "Replace snare", "Replace kick"... etc.

A Groove Matrix-like 'cell'-based system where I can: Select a bunch of clips, audio and/or midi, across tracks, drop them all into a cell/container, specifiy that cell as, say, 'cho bvs', and then insert that cell, by name, anywhere else in the timeline I want.

Something that totally bridges...no.. make that, something that totally dissolves the linear/pattern distinction. That distinction is artificial... it's a technical limitation... yes, some styles are more overtly *loop*-based than others, but 'loop' and 'pattern' are not synonymous... and for the most part music is made with broadly repeating patterns/structures and is ALWAYS experienced linearly. (I'm sure there are exceptions to that, but they prolly prove the rule.)

You know how if you use the the Enable Floating option in PRV, and also use the locking option, you're able to get independent PRV windows that each show whatever tracks you want, at whatever zoom level, etc., you want? Why can't we do that with Track View? And be able to drag and drop clips etc between the two views?

I want to be able to see my chos side by side, without the verses between them, and without having to zoom all the way out.

Fix the floating windows context menu bug

There are only a few things holding me back from switching 100% to Sonar...(still using Cubase SX 3.1 most of the time )

1. No option to pick-up/chase held midi notes. This is mandatory. Don't know why it's not an option.

2. No time-slider in Import>Audio or Rip CD dialog?! What?!?! What if I want to hear the last 12 seconds of a 5 minute file?

3. Plugin delay compensation bypass. ie: I'm at 99% of my finished mixdown (with plugins and UAD plugs etc), but got inspired to add one more piano MIDI track. I will get 100ms of latency with all the plugins, so I have to bypass every single effect bin in every track and group...blah... One button would solve this.

4. OGG File compatibility. Please...can we have the ability to import OGG files without crashes? Thanks.

5. Record in Play..."capture up to 10 minutes of any incoming audio you play in Stop mode or during playback, “after the fact”. This is possible because C****e can capture audio input in buffer memory, even when not recording." Very life-saving if you've needed it!

6. Console/Track highlighting. Another feature I thought would be obvious. Select a track in the track view, the same channel highlights in the console. Simple. Smart.

7. Tape-Machine Style monitoring. (http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=1215835&mpage=1&key=??) - Implemented in 7.0.2!!!

8. "Select All Following" - hit a key command, and all the clips FOLLOWING the NOW TIME get highlighted. SUPER important when editing for film, dialog etc.

9. "Move to Now" - select a clip, hit a key command and the clip snaps to the current NOW TIME position. VITAL when syncing effects etc for film etc...

10. Macro Recorder. For the ability to chain several Sonar commands in a row and trigger it by a single key command.

11. Much more flexible track/channel preset handling. (ie: Saving and loading track presets (with sends, FX bin setting etc) OVERTOP of a current track, without adding a new track and having to drag and drop audio clips from old track to new etc..

12. The ability to scrub clips WITHOUT having to turn off a mute button or putting the channel fader up. Handy if you are importing someone else's OMF and need to hear what a specific clip is without going through more steps/mouse clicks.

13. Perhaps simmer down on the vertical scroll? ie: I'm zoomed in to see two audio tracks at a time, and I want to ALT-SELECT a region across several tracks to remove silence..when I bring the mouse cursor down to the bottom of the track view...the page just TAKES OFF and I'm suddenly looking at my last track (and have WAY more tracks selected than I wanted). Can we SMOOTH the vertical scroll a little more (instead of JUMPING track by track?)

14. Fix the V-Station Powercore Bug

15. When adjusting the pan control in the console with a WHEEL-MOUSE wheel, at a certain point when moving the wheel, the whole console suddenly starts scrolling.

16. I have a 64 track song, and I'd like to organize the mixer so I can select which tracks to show at one time. IE: is there a way I can 'group' all my drum tracks and then assign that to a key command to show only those tracks? And also do this with all BG Vox, etc...? That way I can flip between the track views as I need... instead of scrolling for 64 channels in the console (since SONAR refused to do auto-scroll when selecting a track in the track view)...similar to the current "Track Manager" but able to save view presets etc...instead of simple check on/off.

17. Update the 'remove silence' function to 2007 (ie: a little graphics with the waveform might be nice).

18. Ability to automate mute & solo buttons on busses/groups!?!?!?! How can you miss this one?!?!

19. Make the KEY BINDINGS window searchable? Instead of forcing the user to spend two hours looking for one command.

20. Is there a way we can dbl-click the track/channel FX bin and get a BIG window that shows all the plugs at once? (instead of scrolling up and down each bin)?

21. Make a more obvious indicator in the FX bin when editing a plug. So I double-click a compressor plugin, perhaps highlight/circle the compressor name in the FX bin with a bright red or light blue color so I know which plug on which track I'm working with? especially helpful when having 4 plugins open at once.

22. Where the heck are the simple RW/FF controls? Yes, I know we can go measure-by-measure, or spend all day making markers. But what if I just want to RW back a few beats in front of the current bar?

23. How about the simple ability to ENABLE WRITE AUTOMATION while already in playback?!

24. Some kind of indicator on controls that already have automation? (check out REASON for this feature). Highlighting or circling the control with a green colour to show it already has automation? (of course, this will be user optional in the prefs.)

25. More automation modes please!! (ie: Touch, Latch, Overwrite, Jump, Skip and Hop).

26. The ability to move more than one track at a time with the mouse(in the track view window). (note: NOT audio clips, but actual tracks) without having to go through the whole long process of Select multiple tracks, Track->Sort, choose selected and ascending/descending etc...Just make it a simple mouse drag.

27. Simple Waveform drawing tool (to take out 1-sample ticks etc....). Very basic, Very obvious, Very useful...please?!?!

28. A MUCH more accurate (aka: LESS WILD) scrub. Something smooth with shuttle option on single tracks.

29. The ability to assign the track name to all clips on the same track. ie: I dbl-click the track name, rename it and hit SHIFT-ENTER, and that will also rename all clips to the same name.

30. Please tell me there's a way to GROUP CLIPS in the track window? PLease!?!?! please tell me. I can't find anything in the help file.

31. A useable AUDIO POOL (like Cubase SX)!!

32. Make the GRID LINES IN THE PIANO ROLL change to the same as grid value. ie: if I select 1/8 note for grid, put some darn 1/8 note grid lines! If I select 1/16 notes for grid value, then show some 1/16th note grid lines!

33. Give us at least a LITTLE flexibility with fades on audio clips!!! (ie: more than 3 basic fade curves, the ability to use points in a fade-curve option window etc)

34. Please make it possible to turn on/off the audio metronome during playback.

35. Make the MUTE and SOLO buttons on audio track layers a little bigger please?

36. Make the Maximum Zoom Out REALLY ZOOM OUT! I have 45 tracks, and I want to see ALL of them. Not just the top 16....zoom out should actually ZOOM OUT. Thanks.

37. When adjusting volume envelope points on automation, can you also display the DIFFERENCE in db? and not just the actual value (ie: I move a point from -8dB to -6dB, can you display a +2dB tooltip too?)

38. Make it possible to move crossfades between audio. ie: I x-fade two audio clips, and after listening I realize I need to move the x-fade a little farther. Let me just grab the x-fade and slide it anywhere I want.

39. Make the dB range in the Sonitus EQ selectable? I don't think many people here ever use 15dB of cut/boost when eq-ing, so perhaps having the default at 6dB range makes more sense? BUT, also add a drop down to the EQ to select 12, and 15dB range too? Will make it easier when changing EQs with the graphic points. Just an idear!

40. Treat the bus channels more like regular mixer channels! ie: we should be able to Actively SELECT bus channels (the same way as tracks), and ALSO MAKE THE SELECTED BUS CHANNEL SHOW UP ON MY MCU'S SELECT LIGHT TOO PLEASE!!!

41. another 'inspector' type of window for showing audio clip information (ie: total clip length, start time, end time etc..) in user selectable time bases, ie: ms, samples, beats, smpte time etc... IN REAL TIME. Not some kind of right-click>show info window...

42. The abilty to 'split' control surfaces (ie: Mackie Control + XT) into two devices. So we can have audio tracks show on the Mackie XT, while showing Bus channels on the Main MCU!

43. Make the 'un-solo ALL' button work for busses too please! Please do not treat the busses so differently from the regular audio channels (ie: allow selectable busses, allow mute/solo automation etc).

44. When dragging/dropping midi or audio clips from explorer to the track view, please make it a more obvious display of where we're dropping them? (ie: make a long vertical bar pointer at the beginning of the clip along with a tooltip stating current bar position?!)

45. Allow us to select multiple tracks/channels in the console view (for easier output routing when changing several channels at once. IE: I want to see all the current tracks that route to FF800 Analog 1 ONLY and re-route them to FF800 Analog 3 etc).

46. Capture last take as recording ( if you just play around with your song on a miditrack whithout being in record mode, you can press a key and Voilá what you just played is now recorded, like magic. Logic and Cubase have the feature since years ago)

47. Legato "quantize" Your midi notes will be shortened or lengthend( is that a word?) to just reach the next midinote and not overlapping

48. Don't let Roland take your programmers away from working on this list.

49. The ability to change project sample rates WITHOUT having to start a new project and re-import the tracks and re-create the busses and the mix levels etc.

50. Have an 'auto mute' option for track layers. When I record onto a single track with track layers enabled, please mute the previous layer when recording a new take. Instead of having the user try to click that dang super-duper-small mute button on the layer. This should be an option in the prefs.

51. introduce a track delay positive or negative, I've found only Time+ for midi, But Audio?

52. Pen tool to draw out single sample clicks etc...!!!

the DB range is the sonitus EQ is selectable. Right click in the EQ plot area.

Rob

I wonder why Sonar hasn't included the option to enable/disable auto scrolling. Am I alone in not understanding how such a time saving utility could have been consistently overlooked? I put a query in search here in the forums but found no threads even discussing the issue. This is especially frustrating since it is an included feature in the v-vocal plugin. It can't be that demanding to write code for this when many less functional hosts include it yet, considerable effort seems to have been spent to avoid the inclusion of a choice. Recent versions of Sonar from about 6.0 onward have introduced workarounds such as remembering the previous view. Then they added the tiny rollover slider bar pop up to quickly resize the view between loop points. The latest effort "the microscope" is truly impressive and would be great except for one small problem - it sucks and would be entirely unnecessary if they would just include the ability to toggle off the damn screen from shifting with the now cursor. Adding insult to injury is the requirement of the now cursor to be in the exact center of the clip one wishes to view or, one has to recenter the clip after it has been enlarged. Then, of course, one needs to rewind to the beginning of the clip after the maximum clip size has been achieved. Have I mentioned that a simple toggle to turn off auto scrolling would eliminate this problem? I'm just sayin'.

43. Make the 'un-solo ALL' button work for busses too please! Please do not treat the busses so differently from the regular audio channels (ie: allow selectable busses, allow mute/solo automation etc).

It doesn't look like a button, but I believe double-clicking the green solo indicator area in the status bar in the bottom of the window gets rid of all soloing in the project (unless of course you grouped some solo buttons where one is on and the other is off...).

My ideas:

1. Add a user-adjustable delay to sends (disabled if set to 0 for efficiency).
Lately I've wanted to recreate my own drum overhead buses using sends. However, each drum track send needs to be delayed slightly and differently depending on which overhead bus it's sent to (L or R). This can only be done by creating a separate bus for each track and adding a delay plugin to it. Therefore, adding a delay value to each send would be very helpful. Optionally, allow the delay setting to be made in milliseconds or samples.

2. Build a plugin to filter a track into separate bands that can apply FX to each band individually.
So, I want to create some funky effects where I want to put distortion just on the lows, pitch-shift the mid-lows, leave the mid-highs alone, and flange the highs. Think of something like the Sonitus Multiband compressor, but instead of a dedicated compressor on each channel just make it another FX bin that I can load any of my plugins into. Some wonderful options would include per band mute/solo/input-output gain control, changing the filter slope between bands, optional phase linear/non-phase linear filtering, make the number of bands selectable from 2-6 (arbitrary). Currently, this takes a lot of routing setup.

3. I second creating a delay plugin that allows applying negative delay to a track. Say I have a snare track where I want it to push the beat in some places and drag behind in others. In order to do this I have to offset the track so everything is pushed then delay all the parts that are played on the beat or behind the beat. Then I can't easily move tracks around. Or with MIDI tracks I can't just program the changes with tempo changes because it affects everything and not just the snare. Obviously, negative delay plugins would add programming complexity because every other track would need to be delayed accordingly, so maybe just program it as a track delay property instead and allow positive or negative delay to a track (again time or sample based settings would be a nice touch).

If it is in Sonar 7, I missed it : I'd like to be able to record while playing back. Now I have to stop, arm the track and hit record. The stopping bit is what I'd like to see gone.

Jan

Scroll lock key.

Don't know if I missed this above...or if I saw this somewhere else...

How about a per-track undo feature? -- You edit track 1. Edit track 2. Realize track 1 is wrong. You can just "undo track 1 edits" without affecting what you did in track 2.

Thanks altima_boy_2001

This little problem has been my pet peeve for way too long.

ORIGINAL: altima_boy_2001

I wonder why Sonar hasn't included the option to enable/disable auto scrolling.

Read the help, it's already there. Hit the "Scroll Lock" key to turn it on and off.

I have checked "Help" many times wondering if I'm just not seeing it. The mild feeling of embarrassment is dissipating quickly enough, I guess.

ORIGINAL: mattplaysguitar

ORIGINAL: torhan

Don't know if I missed this above...or if I saw this somewhere else...

How about a per-track undo feature? -- You edit track 1. Edit track 2. Realize track 1 is wrong. You can just "undo track 1 edits" without affecting what you did in track 2.

That's a nice idea! I like that one.



I assume there probably already is, but if not, I would like a keyboard shortcut for bouncing to tracks... I can't seem to find one...

It's in Keybindings.